Fun Archives - Page 5 of 13

Lego Addicts

January 30, 2012 TechyDad Fun, Photos, Play, Toys

Lately, the kids have been victims of an addiction. I’m not talking about their usual addictions to chocolate, pizza or macaroni and cheese. No, this addiction is of the Lego kind. The boys just love taking out the bricks and minifigs and coming up with some creations. Then, they will either give their creations elaborate stories…. or just smash them.

Of course, mix in a couple of their other obsessions, like Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, or Toy Story and the kids take their Lego addiction to a whole new level. For example, here is Buzz Lightyear riding his "flying car" (which he apparently made partially out of Winnie the Pooh’s canoe):

Also for your consideration, a re-enactment of a lost scene of Harry Potter where Harry fights Voldemort while riding on the blades of a helicopter:

I hear test audiences experienced extreme nausea from all of the spinning around.

Finally, here is the flying car of the future, today! Complete with built-in landing pad.

There are still some bugs to work out. Like how to actually drive the car when the landing pad doesn’t retract. Those can be worked on in a future version of the flying car of the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over my recently acquired Lego addiction of the computer game kind!

Do your kids enjoy playing with Legos or other building toys?

Review: Family Game Night (Wii)

January 17, 2012 TechyDad Fun, Games, Video Games, Wii

Soon after The Hub network premiered here, NHL discovered Family Game Night. This game show showed two families competing for cash and other prizes by playing modified versions of classic games such as Scrabble, Connect Four, Yatzee and Sorry. NHL quickly grew to love the show and insisted that we record each and every new episode. He would excitedly root for a favorite team and developed favorite games.

Meanwhile, NHL loved playing games on the Wii including one of the Family Game Night series that we had purchased. He really loved the idea of taking a board game and playing it in video game format.

Combine the two and you get Family Game Night 4: The Game Show.

There are two modes to this game. The first is a one or two player version of the Family Game Night TV game show complete with announcer Todd Newton assisted by Mr. Potato Head. In this version, players compete in versions of the Family Game Night TV show’s mini-games. Winning players get Monopoly cash cards. At the end of the game, you see just how much those cards were worth. The player with the most Monopoly cash wins.

In the other mode, players can play the individual mini-games either against another player or against the computer. There are also slightly altered versions of the games. For example, Sorry Sliders becomes Sumo Sliders. Instead of merely sliding your Sorry sliders shuffleboard style and worrying about other sliders, you also need to worry about some big (aka Sumo) non-player sliders that are already on the board. Just to keep things interesting, you can win trophies for completing various activities (like getting 4 in a row in Connect 4 Basketball in only 4 shots).

Though they were a bit much for JSL (age 4), NHL (age 8) and I loved playing both the game show and individual games. This is definitely a game that we will be playing over and over again.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Family Game Night for the Wii from EA Play. No other compensation was given and no review expected. The opinions stated above are my own.

Rocking With The Laurie Berkner Band

January 10, 2012 TechyDad Fun, Music, Photos, Shows, Videos

Saturday mornings are usually lazy affairs. Last Saturday, though, was different. We needed to get up and moving quickly. Why? We had a concert to go to: The Laurie Berkner Band’s Animal Party at Proctors Theatre.

We got there early, picked up our tickets and, before taking our seats, got each of the boys a souvenir.

That’s a shaky egg – a small wooden egg that makes noise when you shake it like a maracca.

As we took our seats, I marveled at how close we were to the stage.

We also marveled at what a great looking venue Proctors is. We really should go to more shows there!

NHL, being a drum player, liked the drum set on the stage.

JSL, meanwhile was prepared for one of the later songs with his monkey.

Before long, out came Bob (who plays the drums), Suzie (keyboard), Adam (bass guitar), and, of course, Laurie. The boys went crazy as she sang song after song. Meanwhile, I alternated between taking a ton of photos, taking videos, and rocking out with my kids.

Here are some selected photos from the concert.

Remember JSL’s monkey from before? Well, at one point, he had to put it on his head. After all, Laurie had a pig on her head…

In addition to having a pig on her head, her toolbox was invaded by a mouse intent on building a home for itself.

For fans of Jack’s Big Music Show, where her band is often featured, Laurie broke out into a medley of songs.

Finally, what concert would be complete without a groupie crashing the stage. Of course, Laurie Berkner groupies are a bit shorter than some other band’s have.

We just love how the band worked her into the show. They showed that not only do they play great music for children, but they know how to play WITH children too. (At the time, I wondered if I’d be able to tell the mother of the little girl about this video. It turned out that she posted on Facebook and B got in touch with her.)

All too soon, the concert was over. It was time to take bows and head home.

Thanks to the Laurie Berkner Band for such a magical concert!

Disclaimer: We received complementary tickets to the “Animal Party” concert thanks to The Laurie Berkner Band. The opinions expressed above, however, are my own and this post was done because we had a great time, not in return for the tickets.

Fun Times At The New York State Museum, Part 3

December 14, 2011 TechyDad Educational, Fun, JSL, Museum, NHL, Photos

Over the last two days, I’ve recounted how we saw animals and made seed packets. I also told of our train ride to Sesame Street. Now it was time for what was going to be arguably the kids’ favorite time of the trip: The carousel.

First, a little history. This isn’t a new carousel. It’s quite old. It was first made between 1912 and 1916, but some of the horses date to the 1890’s.

The operator told us that it is given 15 minute rest times between runs to prevent breakdowns. In fact, we were told, it’s so old that if it ever breaks down, they won’t be able to fix it! Still, 15 minutes is an easy wait as the upside to this being an older carousel is that it goes faster than more recent ones.

During our first run, JSL and Cousin S took seats in a spinner. NHL and Cousin B grabbed side-by-side horses.

Talk about old, this is what played the music to go along with the ride.

After this first run, we looked at a few exhibits that were on this floor. Then, the kids enjoyed some rock candy.

I even got a nice photo of a church that is right next to the museum. Love the architecture.

Before we knew it, our 15 minute wait was over and it was time for ride number 2. Cousin B took a horse again. JSL and Cousin S took side-by-side horses. NHL decided to ride by himself on a spinner. (This was on the other side of the carousel so I couldn’t get good photos of him from where I was supervising JSL and Cousin S.)

When the ride was over, the kids went back to their rock candy until it was time for one final ride. This time, NHL and JSL mounted matching donkeys, Meanwhile, Papa went on the spinner with Cousins S & B.

During the ride, I noticed the beautiful marble eyes that the animals had.

Finally, the ride was over and it was time to leave. Mind you, this was over protests of "one more ride." Still, it was getting late and we needed to leave. It was a fun time and the boys are already itching to go back.

Fun Times At The New York State Museum, Part 2

December 13, 2011 TechyDad Educational, Fun, JSL, Museum, NHL, Photos

Yesterday, I began the tale of our trip to the New York State Museum. As I ended part 1, the kids were running off to see more exhibits.

They first ran into a dinosaur. They all marveled the dino standing in front of them. I was barely able to get them to hold still long enough to pose for a photo.

A little further down, they loved seeing, first, a whale’s skull and then a whole whale skeleton.

Even the complete whale skeleton couldn’t measure up to the exhibit were were looking for: Sesame Street. We wound our way through the museum, relying mostly on my fuzzy memory of where it was. Then we spotted something that I didn’t remember: An old A-Train car.

This car was presented in such a way as to let people walk in it and sit in its seats. The kids were instantly in love. They ran all around it abuzz with excitement.

As we exited the train, I spotted the familiar face of a certain large, yellow bird. We had found the way to Sesame Street.

I’ll admit that the exhibit was smaller than I remember. (I think I half-remembered a larger exhibit from another museum.) Still, the kids loved seeing even the small portion of Sesame Street. A bench was positioned so kids could watch snippets of the show on a small television.

Before long, they got restless, though, and it was back to the train car.

Our next big location to visit was the carousel. However, the boys and I stumbled upon a hidden gem. A collection of old fire trucks. What kid doesn’t like fire trucks?

These were right near the second of the museum’s two 9-11 exhibits. This one included (among other things) a heavily damaged fire truck and a girder from the Twin Towers. I must admit that I had to touch it and bow my head a bit when I encountered the latter of the two. Thankfully, the kids were so distracted by the fire trucks they had just seen and the promise of the carousel to come, that they didn’t seem to notice what we were walking by.

Once this was done, we headed for the elevators and went up to ride the carousel.

To be concluded tomorrow.

« 1 … 3 4 5 6 7 … 13 »